Compare 2018 Medicare Advantage Plans

If you are a senior and in need of medical coverage, then you should be considering Medicare Advantage plans. These are medical insurance coverage plans that have tons of coverage for you, and we want to examine them a bit here and show you how to compare 2018 Medicare Advantage plans.

A Bit about Medicare Advantage

Let’s look at some of the basics on Medicare Advantage plans. First of all, these are sold through private insurances and not Medicare. The basic coverage these plans come with is regulated by Medicare, but pricing and availability is up to the insurance companies.

Advantage plans are available to just about any senior, no matter what their preexisting medical conditions may be. Even if you have other medical coverage, you can still get a Medicare Advantage plan. You just have to drop one of your plans if they overlap in some way. So, if you have a Medicare supplement plan, for example, you will have to get rid of that to sign up for the Medicare Advantage plan.

Medicare Advantage plans provide you with a lot of coverage. They can cover you for emergency care, urgent care, Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B. This is considered basic coverage, and all Advantage plans have it, regardless of how different they may be in other ways.

A lot of them have coverage for Medicare Part D as well, which can be bought separately and which covers prescription drugs. They may also include coverage for annual checkups for your eyes, ears, heart and such.

Why Compare Advantage Plans?

We urge all senior to compare Advantage plans before signing up for one of them, and the reason is for that is primarily because there isn’t a best plan. Most people won’t be able to look the plans at a glance and say that one of them will be right for them while others are not worth their time or money. Yes, there is a coverage plan that is right for anyone that needs that kind of coverage that only Advantage plans can provide. However, this varies from person to person, and there are tons of different Advantage plan to choose from. Some of them cover you a little, while others cover a lot. Some are priced much higher than their competition, while others are far more competitive with their pricing. You get the idea, and hopefully you understand why you need to compare the plans.

You don’t want to end up with a plan that costs a lot and doesn’t cover you like you need. You also don’t want to sign up for an Advantage plan that covers far more medical expenses than you will ever have to deal with. You have to walk that fine balance between pricing and coverage, choosing a plan that is a good fit and that covers you where you need it to but that also fits your budget. That’s not an easy choice to make, which is why we urge every senior to compare 2018 Medicare Advantage plans.

How to Compare Advantage Plans

Now that you understand why you should compare them, let’s look at exactly how to do that. You want to compare them on a few differs metrics. You should be comparing their coverage first of all, then their price and then their network. If a Medicare Advantage plans doesn’t cover you, then it is not worth signing up for. If you can’t afford it, then you won’t be able to keep it for long. And if it has some bad network provisions, then you won’t get the coverage that you need where you need it.

Let’s starts with coverage. We discussed some of the things that these plans can cover for you. However, you have to know what you need out of a plan before you can accurately compare two different plans. You need to know what kind of coverage you are looking for so that you make the right choice. That means you have to examine your own needs- how much you pay for medical care, what medical treatment you are likely to need (even if you have never paid for it before) and what kind of coverage you would like to have ideally.

Each insurance company has freedom in the coverage for these plans. It’s not absolute freedom to include or discard any item of coverage they feel like, but it does give them some leeway as to what can be included with this plan.

You will also need to compare the prices, and to do that, we suggest sourcing as many quotes as you can. The more quotes you get, the more likely you are to find a good deal and to get the lowest price possible. Make sure that your quotes and sources are accurate, as prices change regularly. You want up-to-date quotes, which means that you need to source your quotes shortly before you choose an Advantage plan.

Compare network option as well, which you can do by looking at the network for an individual insurance company. Each company operates on their own network, which is a series of hospitals, clinics and such that have agreed to accept their coverage plans. When you go off the network of your insurance company for medical care, you may not get coverage. If you choose the HMO option, you only get covered at network locations. If you go with the PPO option, however, you get full coverage on the network and partial coverage off the network.